Due to the fact that sexual organisms exchange and mix their genetic material when they breed, their traits can be more easily manipulated artificially. Under the assumption that Trichoderma reesei was asexual, scientists looking to improve the fungus were instead limited to techniques like dosing the fungus with radiation or chemicals in order to alter its genetic profile. But that process only created random or unpredictable mutations.
But for the first time since its discovery 50 years ago, scientists can now make the fungus have sex.
Past studies have shown that Trichoderma reesei is genetically identical to another species of fungus, Hypocrea jecorina, which it so happens is capable of sexual reproduction. The primary difference between the two organisms was that Hypocrea jecorina seemed capable of assuming both the male and female roles, whereas Trichoderma reesei seemed only capable of assuming the male role.
So scientists got a novel idea: Why not breed the male-oriented Trichoderma with a female-oriented Hypocrea? The result was a successful mating– the Trichoderma lured into having sex could now be artificially selected for their advantageous genetic traits.
Found by David Guaraglia.
Since when do you have to force a male to have sex? Throw some beer in and you have to force him to stop.
“Past studies have shown that Trichoderma reesei is genetically identical to another species of fungus, Hypocrea jecorina…”
Um… that’s impossible. If they are genetically identical they can’t be of different species. Even identical twins aren’t genetically identical.
#3, Jim: I’m thinking that’s a real problem with pop science. Writers trying to simplify things for the layperson by creating well-intentioned but misinformed metaphors and analogies, such as the recent post about galaxies moving faster than light.
Meanwhile only 32% of Americans believe in evolution.
Thus:
http://pewresearch.org/databank/dailynumber/?NumberID=818
There go those godless scientists – forcing unnatural sex on innocent creatures.
Seriously though – there will be unintended and unforeseeable consequences.
There ALWAYS are.
Yeah… they might accidentally discover a cure for something.
not so surprising at this point… predictably lame
#5 if god wanted them to believe in evolution he would’ve giveth them a functional brain… alas he didn’t, hence “faith” is all they have have 😉
I hate fucking fungus.
[Well, don’t then. – ed.]
“# 11 Inbread Georgian said, on August 15th, 2009 at 10:55 am
I hate fucking fungus.”
Not to worry. Trichoderma reesei now has that job….
america, land of happy fungus…
#11 – I’ll pretty much fuck anything.
I foresee the Christian Taliban to ensure no government funding is used for this disgusting, slimy, slippery and wet sex.
If those scientists ask me nicely, I’ll have sex with the pin-up of the day.
I’ve always wondered why the oil eating fungus/bacteria haven’t established colonies in the oil reserves of the world. After millions of years, you’d think there would be nothing but gray goo down there.
Any rational explanation?—it only takes ONE fungus to get into contact with a pool of oil and away they go?
Fungus on your scrotum can be particularly bothersome.
How come a single oil eating fungus/bacteria hasn’t found a patch of oil and started reproducing turning into gray goo?
Seems like a kind of vacuum that nature is supposed to abhor?
Unusual: first time my response won’t post. Is it because I capitalized darwin in the Usename? I’ve done that before for other words.
Why is DU censoring the adulation of mr darwin?
and why haven’t oil eating organism gotten into the oil reserves turning it into gray goo?
Suggested headline revision, “Scientists force fungus to have sex ‘with each other’, to create biofuel”. The title as it stands might suggest that there is some kind of un-natural cross species interaction going down in the labs.
I think I had Trichoderma once but I got a special douche for it.
Oh great! They tried to make a franken-fungus. All that radiation does, is work like a shotgun blast on the DNA. It doesn’t make it evolve for the better. It just severely damages it, 99.999% of the time. And random chemical probably interrupts various amino acid processes, during replication or grown. It’s basically some scientists, justifying their research funds. But not knowing exactly what their doing. And “shotgunning” the tests. Well, they probably now know 2,000 things that don’t work. Wouldn’t Edison be proud of them.
You know you are having a bad week when fungus is having a better Saturday night than you are…
– – – – –
Oil reservoirs are very deep and very hot (>150F) and contain very little water (and what there is tends to be very salty). Probably the only reason that petroleum-eating microorganisms ever evolved at all is because of the places where it seeps to (or near) the surface.
Thanks Uncle Patso, that might explain part of it. Lack of oxygen too? Still, “life seeks energy” just like a bad SyFy flick and I’d think some extremophyle would have made it by now.
The SyFy movie is end of the earth caused by an oil spill remediation site getting its oil eating bacteria into the worlds oil supply = lights out for us.
I’d use the term SciFi if I thought the movie would be any good.
complete waste of time for biofuel. biofuel itself is a waste of time. only purpose this has is for breaking down garbage..
oh wait..are these buggers venting Methane or CO2? -if so, the Cap&Trade fraudsters will love these buggers..
..The C&T fraudsters can use these little buggers to fuel their next [derivatives] asset bubble boom.
Aside from all that, while even though i’m completely against all forms of religion and i guess, agnostic..
Under NO circumstances should we be “forcing* cross-species breeding via radiation, gene splicing or otherwise..
if they werent designed to cross breed by their own power from the getgo, it’s for a damn good reason.
we don’t know squat about the consequences of hybridization as can already be seen in the boatload of studies of rats eating GMO foodstuffs (soy, corn, etc..) (birth defects, low weights, 50% mortality rates, blue skin, sterility, etc etc)
[of course, someone always inevitably lets these aberrations of Life out into the wild to further F up the gene pool and balance of Life–for various reasons]
—————-
we should have been making all magnetic and magpulse motors a hundred years ago, thusly bypassing the whole oil/ICE engine fiasco.
Oil is better suited for petrochemicals and plastics [though that is a loaded, semi-oxymoronic statement in itself]
the geniuses from late 1800’s to 1920’s discovered & designed all the [new] technology we ever needed, -and then honed said tech up through the 1940’s. (-Einstein and his theoretical maths mental midgets ruined it for us all.) (and of course, the Vatican) 😮
everything since then has been an abuse of state’s funds and the mass consciousness.
I mean WTF..40 years since the Moon and we’re still using the same technology to get off the planet?? -is everyone still so naive as to believe that?
-what a crock. someone is hoarding all the [exotic/good and clean] technology for themselves. [and attempts to kill anyone who produces it independently of gov research]
the real cool tech, of course was in the resonant-piezo-crystal technology that sunk with the Atlantians.
I doubt very much that tech will be shared when it’s rediscovered either.
hohum
-s